May have lost SEVERAL HOURS of work because of ridiculously badly designed TurboTax. Was ANYTHING autosaved?

[hawke]

So it came to the point where I had to log into a bank account to import interest info. It was on a dropdown window over the main turbotax window itself. The dropdown window wasn't resizable or zoomable. The bank login wasn't working for some reason, although I had ensured third-party access was enabled on the bank site, so I thought about closing and reopening the app. But the cancel button was too far down the dropdown window, and like I said window wasn't resizable or zoomable. Page down key didn't bring it far down enough to make the cancel button accessible. Monitor resolution was already highest on my Macbook Air (i.e. 1366x768. Minimum resolution recommended for app is 1024x768. WRONG). Multiple monitor hookup didn't work on previous attempts so I ruled that out. I tried to quit Turbotax normally but it said respond to the prompt first (i.e. dropdown window). It seemed I had no choice but to force quit Turbotax. I thought at least the stuff I entered up until then would have been saved.

But I reopened Turbotax and ... where was it? As far as I can see I'm back on square 1. WTF? There better be a way to recover everything I entered in the last several hours? WHY WOULDN'T ANYTHING BE AUTOSAVED? Someone needs to look into replacing the designers/developers of this stupid app.

[hawke · Accepted solution]

Okay, I found an autosave that seems to be up-to-date... phew. I don't know why this isn't easily findable info. For Mac check account > Library > Autosave Information.

I'll have to resume on one of my other devices with a higher resolution. Would recommend nothing less than HD. There are actually many "dropdown window" instances in TurboTax where info at the bottom is inaccessible as previously described. Intuit needs to update the minimum resolution recommendation or fix the app.

[MichelleLO]

Progress in only autosaved in TurboTax Online. In TurboTax Desktop it is up to the user's discretion whether to save the progress. The program will normally ask you to save when exiting out of the return or program, but if it were to close suddenly then the progress would not save. It is recommended that you save frequently when working in TurboTax Desktop software. 

[MichelleLO]

Glad to hear all is well. Thank you for your feedback and for providing valuable information for the Community. 

[hawke]

The workaround on a 1366x768 resolution is to View > Hide Toolbar before (not after) loading the dropdown window, after which the Cancel button will remain barely accessible. But there is no way to know this beforehand.

[tadilchowdhury]

I also found myself at restarting from square-one after I had to close my computer lid to run an errand midway through the tax file. Unfortunately my computer ended up restarting.  I had no idea that the desktop version of turbotax did not autosave; what a stupid design! If not autosave, at least it should be reminding the user at least specific intervals to SAVE the file. I lost hours of work.

So, I didn't find the autosave information as was mentioned above User > library > Autosave Information.  I am also using a mac OS Monterey. Is all my data lost entirely?  Please advise. Thanks.

[CarissaM]

The desktop version does not autosave, and if not saved prior to a computer restart it will require you to start over if you had not saved a previous version. @tadilchowdhury

[hawke]

Actually, Mac TurboTax autosaves can be found at (accountname) > Library > Autosave Information, although for some reason not advertised. As to why the previous poster didn't see an autosave, I don't know. Maybe it only occurs at certain times.

[tadilchowdhury]

You are correct. I tried again and was able to track down the recovered file using that path on a Mac. Thanks so much, and I agree that this should also be advertised, in addition to my earlier note to flag it for the users at different intervals in the process to save their work.

[hawke]

Good to hear!

[Dystopian Jedi]

Same thing just happened to me. I have to say this is extremely poor product design when installing locally. Should have just hired an accountant.

[VolvoGirl]

You have added on to a very older thread.  What is your exact problem? If you used the Desktop CD/Download installed program the only copy is on your computer and any backups you made.

[Dystopian Jedi]

Using locally downloaded program for 2022. Went all the way through to "file" and stopped as I wanted to review the actual document. I saved it as a pdf thinking my current progress would be autosaved and I could come back and just file. Now I go back in and it will not allow me to import the pdf. Starting all over again.

[VolvoGirl]

Huh?  if you used the Desktop program just open your return.  You don't "import"  anything.  Just open your return and continue.  Go  up to FILE-OPEN and click on on FILE to continue  to file.  

[Dystopian Jedi]

Yes you are correct, I can open the pdf as a pdf document, but if I want to edit any data, the data must be imported back into TT. Upon reopening TT it does not maintain the completed work. It only allows to start anew AND does not allow me to import said saved pdf file back into TT to make changes.